ROME – Oscar-nominated actor Samuel L. Jackson, recognized as the highest-grossing actor ever, will be the guest of honor at the 11th Ischia Global Film and Music Festival, where he will receive the Ischia Legend Award, the event’s highest honor, organizers said.

The festival previously announced it would also present famed producer Arnon Milchan with the same honor.

Pascal Vicedomini, founder and director of the Ischia event, called Jackson “one of the busiest and well-respected actors in Hollywood.”

Organizers of the picturesque island festival off the coast of Naples said Jackson would be honored July 14 as part of the opening gala for the festival, which concludes July 21.

Earlier Monday, it was announced that Jackson would play the U.S. president in the adventure drama Big Game, the English-language debut for Finish director Jalmari Helander.

Jackson, 64, earned a nomination for best supporting actor for his role in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction in 1995, and he also has a Silver Bear as the best actor from the Berlin Film Festival two years later, for his role in Tarantino’s Jackie Brown. He also appeared in Django Unchained, Tarantino’s homage to Italy’s spaghetti Western genre. All told, he has appeared in nearly 150 films in a career that dates back more than 40 years.

Jackson joins a prestigious group of previous Ischia Legend Award winners that includes director Oliver Stone, actors Ben Kingsley, Vanessa Redgrave, and Hilary Swank, and musicians Sting, Harry Belafonte, and Burt Bacharach. At least year’s festival, the honor was given to producer and studio executive Clive Davis, and to brothers Vittorio and Paolo Taviani, whose latest film, Cesare deve morire (Caesar Must Die), won the Golden Bear award in Berlin last year and went on to be selected as Italy's nominee for the foreign language Oscar.